Want an XPS 13 with faster graphics potential? You’ll just have to get the XPS 15 instead. According to Dell Product Manager Frank Azor, more XPS 13 Iris SKUs will not be coming anytime soon nor will there be discrete graphics options like the GeForce MX130 or MX150. The 2016 XPS 13 9360 was the last model to ship with Iris Pro graphics for a 20 to 40 percent performance boost over the UHD Graphics 620.

Coffee Lake-U processors with Iris Pro GPUs can currently be found on newer mini PCs like the Intel NUC series. Whiskey Lake-U processors are still limited to the UHD Graphics 620 for now.

As for Dell’s reasoning, Azor claims that the market for subnotebooks with discrete or Iris Pro graphics is very small and that the larger XPS 15 with GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q will always be available for users seeking better GPU performance. If we are to read into the language, sales of the XPS 13 Iris SKUs were likely too low to justify any direct successors.

Dell’s cold shoulder to higher GPU options shows that it is unfazed by the new competing Razer Blade Stealth which offers a discrete “1D10’ GeForce MX150 GPU for 150 to 200 percent faster graphics than any current XPS 13 configuration.

The news comes on the same day of the XPS 13 9380 reveal with Whiskey Lake-U CPUs, a re-positioned webcam, and a new Frost White color option.

After graduating with a B.S. in environmental hydrodynamics from the University of California, I studied reactor physics to become licensed by the U.S. NRC to operate nuclear reactors. There's a striking level of appreciation you gain for everyday consumer electronics after working with modern nuclear reactivity systems astonishingly powered by computers from the 80s. When I'm not managing day-to-day activities and US review articles on Notebookcheck, you can catch me following the eSports scene and the latest gaming news.